My boyfriend and I will be in South Lake Tahoe on Columbus Day weekend. What activities would be fun to do while we're there? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

That is low season (except for it being a holiday weekend so the hotels will have some moderate occupancy).

It is too early for skiing and too late for water sports. The Miss Dixie stops sailing Sept 30 most years and Vikingsholm is closed. Hiking of course is doable/great.

The scenery wil be glorious but it will be semi-quiet. A day trip to Truckee. And one to Virginia City. A ride up the Heavenly gondola (for the views, not skiing). A visit to Sand Harbor.

I was going to suggest the Blue Streak (zip line), but I think it also stops running at the end of September. As janisj mentioned October is "shoulder season" in Tahoe: too late for summer activities and too early for winter. A drive around the lake is always an option, in addition to hiking etc.

I spend a week or 10 days at Tahoe most Octobers . . . Precisely because it is low season. No crowds and it is beautiful w/ tolerable weather. I relax and get in a lot of reading. But I usually go later in the month and there may be

I do know there is an Italian festival at the El Dorado hotel/casino in Reno that weekend -- but I've never been so don't know if it is worth going over the hill to Reno

Re: The Italian Festival. It's very fun, great food, grape stomping contest. The hardest part is navigating downtown. The old Reno Bridge was taken down and a new one is being constructed so downtown is a bit of a mess.

My only real caution would be driving back to the lake after drinking at the festival.

Fall CAN be a fabulous season in this area. We can have some great indian summers. It's cooler at the lake, it's higher.

>>But I usually go later in the month and there may be

We used to go that time of year too - since its usually not raining yet, biking and hiking were high on our agenda.